I have what it takes to keep Flavio happy, says QPR boss Mick Harford

Smiles better: caretaker boss Mick Harford says QPR can turn around their season and challenge for a play-off place

As the eighth man to take his place in the Queens Park Rangers hotseat under Flavio Briatore, caretaker manager Mick Harford could be forgiven for staying faithful to that football cliche of taking each game as it comes.

But the former Luton Town boss is not expecting any surprises from the volatile Italian co-owner, who arrived at the club just over two years ago, and is hoping he can use the rest of the season to prove he deserves the job on a permanent basis.

Harford, who first joined Rangers under the wing of John Gregory three years ago, believes he has what it takes to meet the demands of the formidable QPR hierarchy and is determined to mount a late push for a play-off place.

"I have got a good affiliation with the club. I know the chairman very well and I know how the club works," said Harford.

"I knew some of the players when I came back and the club have given me the opportunity to stake a claim for the job.

"It's a good club. Well respected and well renowned as a top Championship club looking to achieve things and move forward towards the goal of playing in the Premier League.

"I was here with John Gregory and thoroughly enjoyed my time. I had a dialogue with Flavio and the chairman Gianni Paladini about my role. I didn't see it was for me and we decided to part ways. It was all very amicable.

"I then got to come back again to work with Paul Hart who, for whatever reason, decided to leave and I have now been given the opportunity to manage the club again."

No-nonsense Harford has been quick to stamp his mark on the playing squad. Without a win in the four Championship games since a Boxing Day victory over Bristol City, Harford strengthened his squad during the January transfer window with five new signings.

He added: "I'm very pleased. I think we have brought in some quality players who are going to improve our squad. We needed to boost the squad, it was wafer thin in numbers and experience. The likes of Tamas Priskin, Matt Hill and Marcus Bent will give us that."

The re-signing of Rangers favourite Nigel Quashie on a free transfer, the loan signings of Priskin, Bent and Hill as well as the arrival of former Fulham and Arsenal right-back Moritz Volz — who is expected to complete his short-term deal today — should give Harford the fresh impetus he craves.

"We have had a resurgence with the players coming in," he said. "There's a feel-good factor around the place. The players can see that we are trying to take things forward and there's a spring in the step of the squad.

"There's a lift in confidence and they are training very hard. If we could transfer how they have been training out on to the pitch on a Saturday afternoon, we'd have no problems."

Rangers currently sit in 14th place, seven points off the play-offs, and Harford insists that recent results simply do not tell the full story.

"We've played decent football and created a lot of chances but not converted them," admitted Harford ahead of tomorrow's trip to struggling Peterborough.

"We've brought in some strikers and hopefully we can amass some points, lift ourselves into a reasonable position and mount a challenge for the play-offs."